Tommy Gun in the Montana Sky

When someone told Nate Montana ate a young age, "the name on the front of your jersey is just as important as the name on the back", he took it a little too literally. Coming out of high school in Santa Clara, Nate Montana was faced with a choice that would shape his future as a college quarterback. After not being offered a scholarship from Charlie Weis, Montana could chase his dream of following in his dad's footsteps at Notre Dame as a walk-on. Or, he could enroll at an FCS school that actually wanted him as their quarterback and not a publicity stunt in order to sell some throwback #16 jerseys in South Bend. After spending 2009 at Pasadena City College further trying to prove himself as a legitimate BCS conference QB, Montana chose South Bend as his destination in hope of embodying the story of 'Rudy' his own father claims to have never held true. Truth be told, Montana never had a shot to amount to anything but a 3rd string quarterback at Notre Dame, but his name was intriguing to Irish fans. And after a tumultuous year in which his dad started advertising Skechers, he got caught pounding suds underage with Timmy Abromaitis, and a football season in which he accumulated 18 total pass attempts and an INT, Montana is headed for the rolling plains and open skies of...Montana. Seems fitting. At least now Nate can wear his jersey backwards and no one will notice, and considering they're in Montana, nobody will care.

To be honest, Nate Montana isn't worth an entire blog. He's just a third string QB done in by the immensity of his father's shadow. It's like a more realistic version of James Van Der Beek's story in Varsity Blues, except nobody named Billy Bob was involved and all of the cases of whipped cream bikins and premarital sex are unbeknownst to us.

The fact of the matter is however that with or without Nate Montana, Brian Kelly has a quarterback controversy on his hands. On one side of the proverbial fence, you have Dayne Crist, who will be a senior come next fall and has put together relatively productive numbers when his legs weren't in the ice bucket last season. Contrarily, you have Tommy "Gun" Rees, a freshman who fearlessly stepped in as ND's signal-caller during that abominable home collapse at the mercy of Tulsa and actually won his first four games as a starter for the Irish, including upset wins over Utah and ND's arch-rival to the West, USC. Not to mention, Rees ran the the offense like one of the Irish greats of old in the Sun Bowl, culminating in a 33-17 vicotry of the U, the new home of former Michigan QB, Tate Forcier, otherwise referred to as the biggest tool in major college sports.

I think you all can formulate the choice I am campaigning for here. After yet another disappointing season in South Bend, it seems like a no-brainer to play the potential rather than hoping that a player who has been plagued by injury throughout his entire career can somehow keep his body in tact en route to a BCS bowl season.

I'm an advocate for Tommy Gun not only because he is a Lake Forest product, a Scout if you will, and I'm the biggest Lake County homer there is, but it is honestly the most logical choice for Notre Dame football. After last season, I hope Notre Dame knows that Tommy Rees is the answer indefinitely, not probably, otherwise we'll stay down like the economy. Did I get that right?

As for Pick of the Day, the Pulse Man delivers again in calling the demise of the #1 team in the land. Jacob Pullen got hot and the rest of the Wildcats followed suit in demolishing Kansas in Manhattan last night. For tonight, the Pulse Man is cooking up some home brew and likes the Bulls to cover the OVER on their game against the Bobcats which is set at 182.5.

Record:(54-39-0)

Pick of the Day: Bobcats @ Bulls- Total Points, 182.5- OVER

Now I'm done. Rack me

Frost

Passed Away

Notre Dame football is a ship that literally cannot be sinking any faster. I thought the Titanic went down fast, this thing's going down like a wooden door navigating the Pacific. A famous proverb reads "No wind blows in the direction of a ship without a destination", and this quote likely out of one of those "successories" posters couldn't describe the situation in South Bend any more accurately. Take for instance, a quick look at the events that have unfolded during the last week on the campus with the golden dome. First, tragedy struck both the Notre Dame campus and the northwest suburbs alike as the news of Long Grove, IL native Declan Sullivan's death spread through media outlets across the country (including his eerie messages on Twitter). Next, the Irish lost their QB Dayne Crist for the year with a torn-up knee and are forced to throw Freshman Tommy Rees into the fire, who has now become my 3rd favorite Lake Forest High School alum behind actor Vince Vaughn and musician Andrew Bird, formerly of the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Then to boot, Notre Dame lost 28-27 at home to Tulsa playing with heavy hearts and seemingly even heavier legs in the most distressing of fashions. I wouldn't even be surprised if the Pope himself turned his back on Fighting Irish football this Fall, as Tony Kornheiser put it "today, is the lowest day for Notre Dame football in as long as I can remember."

It really is hard for me to sit and type this about Notre Dame. I thought Brian Kelly would have some answers and definitely looked a lot better in a navy polo shirt and head set than Charlie Weis' fat ass. But, with a lawsuit the size of the state of Indiana looming on the horizon, Kelly made one of the most STUPID and completely baffling play calls I have ever seen in major college football to close out their final drive on Saturday in South Bend. The scene was this: 2nd and 8 on the Tulsa 24 and a ray of hope keeping the Irish alive as they squeak by the mighty Golden Hurricane of Tulsa on a late field goal on National TV. All Brian Kelly had to tell the Irish offense to do was sit on the football like it were shares of Google stock circa 1998. Instead, strangely enough, Kelly elected to let his Freshman QB take a meaningless shot at the end zone which resulted in an interception from an under thrown ball and surely another disappointing season for ND. At least if you don't have a play, throw the football out of bounds, aren't you going to Notre Dame? You probably have a 32 ACT! Get a god damn clue! In my life I have never seen such ineptitude in late game play calling than I saw on Saturday afternoon. The way that scenario played out made me 100% embarrassed to consider myself a Notre Dame fan.

I used to look forward to seeing Notre Dame run out on the field on NBC, watching their gold helmets glisten in the fall sun and hearing the echoes of Knute Rockne, Ara Parseghian and Lou Holtz all helping to "win one for the Gipper". Now, all we hear is of terror resulting from losses to the Naval Academies and private Universities based in rural Oklahoma. I literally cannot say enough how disappointed I am in Notre Dame. "Notre Dame our Mother, pray for us"....we desperately need it.

As for Pick of the Day, the Pulse Man likes the Heat at (-16) tomorrow at home against the joke of a franchise that the T-Wolves have put together in Minny. With the Vikings hitting the skids fast after Randy Moss is now looking for his "straight cash homie" paychecks from a different source and the T-Wolves drafting guards every single year like they're playing games of H-O-R-S-E during the 82 game regular season, the sports world in Minneapolis cannot get much worse. Wait, do the Wild suck too? Yup, they sure do. Not like anybody cared.

Pick of the Day: T-Wolves @ Heat (-16)-HEAT

Record:(27-21-0)

Now I'm done. Rack me

Frost